He had a score to settle with the groundskeeper. Yep he did. That was not a nice trick he played on him back on the first year boats and Ben was here to get to the very bottom of it.

Ben knocked a few times and sat on the steps of the hut facing the forest as he waited for the groundskeeper to let him in. Hopefully he'd even have some tea ready. He would very much like a cup of tea before he complained about feeling like a little baby back on the boat.

"I.. am the sailor of the seaaa. Captain of them alll, with no one to outlast meeeee." Yep, Justin was casually singing in his hut while he gave some of the last finishing touches with some photographs he had taken. There was so much to capture around this area and just enough time too to boot.

*WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISTLE*

Oh, there goes that kettle. He had set his work down before walking over to remove it. He could have some nice tea while reading the paper... And no sooner than that did Justin hear knocking on his door. Wow, company already. "Juuuust a moment." Setting it down, he crossed through the couch to open the door to see one of the first years. Say, he recognised this little one.

"Heylo there," Who looked to be facing a certain direction, "..Can I help you?" Preferably in taking his eyes off the danger area.

Ah!

Bentley jumped up and brushed off his bum. Finally the groundskeeper came to the door, not that he was waiting very long or anything. Didn't he get a house elf too though?

Could he be of help? That depended on whether or not he could make Bentley feel a little better about a certain incident that happened on the first year boat on the first of September.

"Maybe. May I come in?" He asked politely.

Ah, how about that. The young Gryffindor wanted to stop on by for a little chat or he had something private to ask him.

"Suure. You like tea, right?" Hopefully, as he then stepped aside to allow him inside. "It's fresh out the kettle." After allowing him inside, he then went on ahead to fetch some cups before pouring some in.

"So what brings you here today, Bellaire-Moore?" He was all ears.

Bentley walked past the grounds keeper and into his hut where he made himself comfortable in one of his chairs. Hmmm his feet didn't touch the ground while he was sitting in this either.

Ugh...when would he get his growth spurt like Casper?

"Yes, mint tea please?" What brought him here? Well he was glad that they were just going to jump right into it.

"How come you stuck that life jacket on me when we were coming over on the boat?" He frowned and pouted as he looked at the Groundskeeper.

"You got it," Justin then summoned over one of the boxes before adding in the mint flavour bag into his cup, before pouring the nearly hot water in. He then motioned his wand over said cup to cool it down to comfortable drinking temperature before handing it to the Gryffindor. "There you go."

So what brought him here today? The question made Justin merely blink. Well, that was a number of weeks ago. Did this poor kid have that in his head all this time? Aw. "Oh that. Well, when I was hired it was in my job requirements to make sure I get all first years, including you across the lake safely." As for the life jackets, "Quite a few students in the history have fallen in while sailing across, including those that could not swim yet. So I got the life vests onto everyone so it would easier to get anyone back out if that happened again." Quite simple in Justin's opinion.

"Was there something wrong with the vest you had on?" Or did this kid have a bad history with vests in general. Either way something had to have made this be important to discuss.

Bentley took the cup and frowned up at the Professor. "Thank you.." He muttered, all the while throwing disappointed glances at the man. This was exactly the problem. He had to get a few things straight around here. One of that was, he was not a baby.

"I can cool my own tea." His mum didn't even cool his tea for him anymore and she was the biggest spokesperson for the Bentley is still a baby club. This was disappointed. He was clearly still at stage one with all the adults.

He sighed deeply.

"Yes, students fall in but I can swim. I'm reeeally good at swimming. I even know how to surf." See? So he really didn't need a life vest. "Next time you won't need to get me a vest because I'm not a baby and I had already told everyone that I can swim and didn't need one..and then you did that.." Pout pout pout.

"Mhm, no problem." Justin sipped his own tea, doing the same motions over it beforehand to cool it off. Ahhh, Good tea. He heard the Gryffindor mummer something or another, but it was so low Justin's ears were hearing the breeze of the outdoor trees over it.

Instead, he had something else to listen as he set his cup down. Ahhh, Justin felt he knew what was going on now. He wanted to be one of the cool kids and Meanie Old McLeod had ruined it all. His smile lessened to be a bit more gentle, "You are right about one thing, you are not a baby. You are a young man." Which meant, "The life vests aren't just for babies, however. As us adults need them too at times." But that wasn't the whole point though, "You'll have to remember, Bellaire-Moore, that there will always be times that you are expected to follow orders even when you feel it should not apply to you. As a young man, you should know that only babies will cry about things." With a few exceptions, but that was a different matter.

Taking another sip, Justin continued, "Anyway, I had heard you loud and clear from the boat and you already proved to me about your level of maturity by remaining in your seat without much fuss." Weell, before today's visit that is. He hadn't expected to hear another word, thinking it was over since then. But oh well, at least this little guy was getting it off his chest at last. "Now did something else bother you about that night?" Since that look he was getting was sending him signals to pry it out of him.

Having completed her run this morning, alone this time but she had found that quite a few of her students liked running too; Colt and Rea being only two of a rather large group that she had seen on the grounds. Even more than that, she found that she could run further and likely faster than normal when running with others - maybe she didn’t want to be embarassed, or she simply didn’t realise how much she was running… but either way - she was curious.

So, here she was. Jogging down to see the new groundskeeper, figuring he would likely be the correct person to ask…. and if he wasn’t? Well, then she had had a second run for the day and she had gotten to say hi. No problems. Hehe.

As she got closer to the hut, the thirteen year old jogged up the steps before rap-a-tat-tating on the door. She then took a step back, as she had been told that was polite, and waited.

So there goes that owl with the response from Justin out the window. He had been writing to his siblings and other friends. It was much too early to get the fireplace started for direct contact with them, knowing their habits. Just as he had tucked away the quill, ink, and the remaining scraps of parchment there came a knock.

Oho, another visitor. A student or an adult, he had no clue before he went over to open it. A Gryffindor girl this time. Hm. He hadn't seen this one before, which was a good thing around now. "Hello. Can I help you?" She looked a little tired, and it was pretty hot out. "You want a drink?" Merlin knows the trouble he'll get in for letting someone faint outside his own door without at least supplying water.

Grinning away to herself, the Welsh Lion hummed soft tune that she was used to singing to Alis before the door opened up to reveal the Groundskeeper. With a big smile on her face, she brought her hand up to wave at him. ”Hi Mr McLeod!” She bounced slightly on the balls of her feet as he said hello to her.

”I’m hoping that you can… or at least give me some advice?” Maybe? You know, if he had the time and all of that jazz. Hehe. ”Oh, that would be lovely. Thank you… can I have a glass of water please?” That was something that her Dad had taught her - if you wanted to be active, run and do lots of exercise you had to keep drinking water. It wasn’t good for you not to regardless though - water was so super important. Though, maybe she should try to calm down a little bit and not seem so enthusiastic… She didn’t want to scare him after all.

Advice? Did she have boyfriend trouble or something and needed a Man's perspective? ... Nah, she had her Head of House for that. Which made the Groundskeeper curious to see how Airey would handle that from the little he knew of the man so far. Also, she looked a little too happy to be having that sort of trouble as he returned the smile. But hey, he didn't know. That was one secret for him to unlock.

"Sure, come on in." Motioning her in, Justin closed the door after her before heading into the little kitchen. He took two glasses from the cupboard before filling them with the water. "Here you are.." Handing one over before sitting. "So, what's going on?"

The smile on his face, made Marsha wonder just what he was thinking - it seemed like it would make her giggle as well, and that wasn’t something that she was sure about if she was fully honest. As curious as she was, she didn’t know if she wanted to know what the Groundskeeper thought, about why she was here… however he would soon KNOW. ‘Cause, y’know, she’d be telling him. Hehehe.

Following him through the hut into the kitchen Marsha sat down at the table (again, it was supposedly polite) and she smiled at him once again as he handed her a glass of water. Taking a sip as he asked her why she was here, Sha lowered the glass on to the table. ”Well, I wanted to ask you a question about running.” Nodding, the Welsh girl tried not to fidget in her seat. ”I was wondering what your opinion would be on starting a running club with me for the students?” She was pretty sure Mr. McLeod would be the Adult to talk to about this first, but she needed to confirm that.

It was already late into October. About..two months into school. Paul was SO late on this, he almost felt silly, but Milton had said to come and greet his grounds neighbor anyways, if he really wanted to.

So, with a plate of cookies in hand, he knocked at the hut and waited.

Please don't hate me... he thought to himself. He was awful co-grounds liver, wasn't he?

A running club..

Justin took a sip of his own water. Smacking his lips a little. Ahh.. Anyways, she wanted his opinion on it as his smile was still there. "It sounds interesting.." Which brought him to ask her this, "So.." What was in it for him? Hah, like he would really ask that out loud. "What brought you to come up with this neat idea?" He didn't know much about this Gryffindor other than she was not a first year. Had something happened last year that prevented her from doing so? That was a secret, but not for long with him.


It was just like his younger days, as he heard another knock. It was likely to be another visitor for him, so Justin did what he could to tidy his little area he was sitting in up before heading to the door.

He barely even opened the door before he caught whiff of a certain smell. Which was confirmed as soon as he had opened said door.

Cookies..

Freshly made and out for the taking. Justin's widened eyes glanced at the man, the fellow Herbology Professor, before the cookies again. How sweet. "Hey, thanks!" Before he snatched the plate out of his hands and closed the door shut in his face.

Wait for it. His back was against the door. Justin loved doing this sort of gesture to see how well they would take it.

One Hippogriff.. Two Hippogriffs... Three Hippogriffs... Four Hippogriffs..

There. He was done messing with the man for now as he opened the door again laughing. "I was just messing with you, Paul. Come on in." Before he could step or be in shock too far away, Justin took his hand to pull him inside.

"Have a seat, anywhere. These look too delicious and a bit much for me to finish by myself." His tush didn't need anymore fattening than necessary. Maybe he could explain too about the free cookies. Did he want some sort of payment in return?

”Well, I love running… and I got told off by Professor Morgan last year for running inside so I’ve been careful to only run when I’m outside now.” Y’know.. just confirming that she had listened to the Divination Professor. ”And while I saw a few people running last year, I’ve seen a lot more people running this year… Like Colt and Benzi and Rea and lots of others… but Colt has just transferred here from Durmstrang.”

Was he still following her? ”So he doesn’t know anywhere nice to run. I ran over most of the grounds last year trying to find secrets hiding places and thing but even I’m sure that I don’t know everywhere that is good to run on the Grounds…” She raised her glass to her lips, as she was talking so fast she was getting a little carried away with herself.

What? She was excited. ”Anyway, I thought that maybe if I teamed up with a Professor, we could map out some actual runs… maybe do a few different lengths and try and see if we could get people running together. Either just because they like running or because they want to get a little fitter? Either are both very good options for running.” Though Judo was amazing too - but running was easier to do by yourself.

Paul smiled widely when the door opened. The younger fellow seemed happy about Paul's cookies, but before Paul could respond cheerfully to the sentiment, the door SHUT IN HIS FACE.

....

The white-haired man blinked quite a few times. Well then. He supposed the cookies were received well, and Paul...did not wish to wait here like some buffoon, so he turned on his heel, on his way back to the Greenhouses. He had to some shrubs to prune...

He had no time to reflect on the odd character that was the groundskeeper when he heard the door open again. "Oh!" he laughed, from deep within his tummy, and walked back up the few steps to enter the little hut, which Paul admired for its immense coziness. His office could get quite a draft, he disliked it. "I...was confused for a little while--" he was still smiling, though, and chuckling. "So you're a jokester!" He should have known it from the twinkle in the younger man's eye!

"Well--I could help I suppose--" he did take a seat, and he got comfortable. "I just.. never got around to welcoming you as my sorta'...neighbor. Hence the cookies."

Oh my. Justin could see why she loved to run. All that excessive energy just waiting to be burnt. "Mm.. right." So the students were running around and hoping to get more physical activity, eh? She had then mentioned the magic word with him. Secrets. That got his grey-blue eyes looking more majestic. So many secrets to uncover. "You know, it sounds like it should be more than just a little running club." Which got the many extra gears in his head running. "Tell you what Miss.." Well, he was going to need her name right about now, heh. "I have a little something in the works in regards to that with a Professor. That'll make having this club happen much easier." Why not, secrets were likely involved in this. Plus, this would be an actual club that was wanting to run with him. "So count me in." His grin was wide, "Did you have anything else to add?" After all, they would have to share the club idea with the Headmaster for official approval. So now seemed like a good time to drop in her other thoughts, yeah?


Laughing, so that's what this was about. "Oh yeah?" They were neighbours, weren't they? Justin could barely make out the Greenhouses from here when he looked out his window from time to time. "Well thanks again Paul." He bit into one of the cookies. Mmmmm delicious. "You made these, yourself?" Or was it compliments of the elves? Still. This was some guy to realise his love of butter cookies. Munch, munch. "So how are you liking Hogwarts? You graduated from here right?"

”More than?” The Welsh-girl repeated, her own eyes wide as she looked up at the man. Grinning from ear to ear, she nodded. ”Anything to help.. I think it gets a bit repetitive doing the same thing every day… “ Large smiles from her, Mr McLeod!

”Hanover… Marsha Hanover. Second year Lion.” She added, justtt so he knew who to credit this fantastic idea to, obviously. ‘Cause that was important? She wanted to be able to say that she had played a part in starting this club when she was looking for things to use to fill in her University transcripts and she couldn’t remember anything else she had time for while sitting her NEWTS… at least she would have this. Yup. Advanced thinking.

”Oh, were you planning a club already? Or just some form of… activity that could lead to my running club?” Either way, excited didn’t quite cover it. She hoped that he wanted to see if they could do this… Surely Headmaster Botros wouldn’t say no if she had the support of Mr McLeod… right? YES!!! HE SAID YES!!! Her face split into an even wider beaming smile. ”That is awesome! Thank you!”

”Um, I was thinking that we could do a few meetings a week, and maybe have two different runs each meeting so people could decide if they wanted to run a longer or shorter run… and maybe we could set up a race at the end of the year, so the meetings could be like training sessions leading up to the race… Maybe a 10km or a half marathon… Or even a half and a whole… though I don’t know how many times you would need to run around the grounds to equate 26 miles.” Giggggles.

Um… ”I think that was the main things I was thinking about… but having different courses set out as it gets boring running along the pathways all the time.” More grins. ”If you are in… does that mean that we are okay to go ahead? Or do we need to talk to the Headmaster first?”

Paul got comfortable where he was sitting and nommed on his cookie contently. Justin's place was very cozy and Paul thought it had such a nice smell. The cookies' had wafted throughout the hut, and Paul was confident that it would smell like that for a good twenty-four hours! Lucky Justin.

"I did. I find baking clears the mind and...I don't know. It's fun!" he smiled. "I went through a very STRICT vegan phase back in the day---" like, forever ago--"And when I made the...change back to...just vegetarian....oh gosh. COOKIES." He could shove his face full RIGHT NOW just thinking about it. "I've had a craving for sweets.....an ETERNAL craving for sweets--" he sighed sadly, as if this were a death sentence of some sort. Overdramatic Ravenclaws.

Oho speaking of Ravenclaw--"I DID graduate from here. Ravenclaw, though...and...probably many years before you--" he smiled at the younger fellow pleasantly.

Miss Hanover, goodie. Justin would remember that. "Ahahaha, something like that." Now that was a secret he had to keep for a little while longer. "Don't worry, it'll be a real treat for everyone." Once it happened, that is.

"I can see you had thought this out carefully." Very impressive. Why was this one not in Slytherin? "Right, that settles it then. Let's go see Headmaster Botros." Whenever she was ready.


This man was animated, wasn't he? Justin liked it! Some of the other men staff he got acquainted with were awesome too but just.. needed some loosening up. They were a work in progress. Bahaha. "Hah, I think I know what you mean. How long have you been baking? All of your life?" Mm, mm, mm. De-LICIOUS cookies. "MMMM. We should get some milk to go with these. You want some?" He could drink that, right? Unless he had a different beverage in mind he could summon over.

Ooh, a Ravenclaw. The former snake's smile widened. They had lots on their mind. "Many? As in five years or less right?" Soft wink. Age was just a number with Justin, in most cases. He wasn't going to sugar coat it. "I was a Slytherin meself, graduated in 2067." He definitely wasn't one of the younger staff either.

Paul finished off his first cookie and thought for a minute. "I...started baking when I got my own place...my mum didn't let me use the stove--for her own reasons---" he laughed a little. "It took me awhile to get the hang of it, too!" he remembered all of the burnt cookies and brownies he used to make Milton try...ahh. How far he'd come.

"YES! MILK!" That sounded delightful. Paul took another cookie, and hummed cheerfully to himself for a second or two before chuckling...."2067? Wow...I graduated in 20....50." He flushed a little because it made him sound so OLD. "I WISH it were five years or less---" he was nomming away on this cookie, too.

The Groundskeeper seemed to have an interesting accent, which Paul picked up on, and he would have to ask...because was curious! "Where are you from, then? You definitely have an accent, Justin." Paul himself had such a generally English accent..nothing too special, mostly because he didn't LIVE in England at the moment.

Not that Justin didn't have anything to reply to his little story, as his face cheeks got more stuffed from the cookies... It was a good thing he was sharing. "Mmph Mwmorth et mwaae." Merlin, bless him as he finally swallowed. "So worth the wait." Delicious.

"Coming right up!" Or to them if anyone wanted exact specifics as Justin being the show-for guest type flicked his wand towards the fridge to gather the jug of milk and two mugs to go with it. Waiting as it filled itself up, "2050? You sure don't look like it's been that long." After all, he wasn't unfortunate to be littered in wrinkles all about his face.. Unless he used stuff, in which case Justin would very much find a way to borrow some. Whenever he needed it, of course. Ahem.

Dipping one the cookies into the milk he had to stop and think for a moment. Justin hadn't really given much thought to his accent, if anything he assumed he didn't have one. "Hm. Well, I was from London but moved around a fair bit growing up from my parents' work. Lived in the Americas, Scotland, and visited other countries from my last job." That could explain it after all. "How about you?" He was a little interested in this man's secrets on growing up.